File path issues in R using Windows (“Hex digits in character string” error)

Question

I run R on Windows, and have a csv file on the Desktop. I load it as follows,

x<-read.csv(\"C:\\Users\\surfcat\\Desktop\\2006_dissimilarity.csv\",header=T         


        

Answer 1

A simple way is to use python. in python terminal type

r"C:\Users\surfcat\Desktop\2006_dissimilarity.csv" and you'll get back 'C:\Users\surfcat\Desktop\2006_dissimilarity.csv'

Answer 2

Solution

Try this: x <- read.csv("C:/Users/surfcat/Desktop/2006_dissimilarity.csv", header=TRUE)

Explanation

R is not able to understand normal windows paths correctly because the "\" has special meaning - it is used as escape character to give following characters special meaning (\n for newline, \t for tab, \r for carriage return, ..., have a look here ).

Because R does not know the sequence \U it complains. Just replace the "\" with "/" or use an additional "\" to escape the "\" from its special meaning and everything works smooth.

Alternative

On windows, I think the best thing to do to improve your workflow with windows specific paths in R is to use e.g. AutoHotkey which allows for custom hotkeys:

• define a Hotkey, e.g. Cntr-Shift-V
• assigns it an procedure that replaces backslashes within your Clipboard with slaches ...
• when ever you want to copy paste a path into R you can use Cntr-Shift-V instead of Cntr-V
• Et-voila

AutoHotkey Code Snippet (link to homepage)

^+v::
StringReplace, clipboard, clipboard, \, /, All 
SendInput, %clipboard% 

Answer 3

readClipboard() works directly too. Copy the path into your clipboard

C:\Users\surfcat\Desktop\2006_dissimilarity.csv

Then

readClipboard()

appears as

[1] "C:\\Users\\surfcat\\Desktop\\2006_dissimilarity.csv"

Answer 4

I know this is really old, but if you are copying and pasting anyway, you can just use:

read.csv(readClipboard())

readClipboard() escapes the back-slashes for you. Just remember to make sure the ".csv" is included in your copy, perhaps with this:

read.csv(paste0(readClipboard(),'.csv'))

And if you really want to minimize your typing you can use some functions:

setWD <- function(){
  setwd(readClipboard())
}


readCSV <- function(){
  return(readr::read_csv(paste0(readClipboard(),'.csv')))
} 

#copy directory path
setWD()

#copy file name
df <- readCSV()

Answer 5

replace all the \ with \\.

it's trying to escape the next character in this case the U so to insert a \ you need to insert an escaped \ which is \\